Dr. Harshal Akolekar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the School of AI and Data Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur. His research focuses on the development of turbulence and transition models using advanced machine learning approaches, including evolutionary algorithms and deep learning, to enhance the accuracy of low-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for gas turbine applications. He is also actively involved in developing coursework at the intersection of machine learning and fluid mechanics. Prior to joining IIT Jodhpur, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Before this, he worked on industry-driven computational fluid dynamics problems related to underwater vehicles. He received his M.E. and Ph.D. in machine-learning-based computational fluid dynamics from the University of Melbourne in collaboration with GE Aerospace. He completed his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at BITS Pilani.